The Wayfarer

The Wayfarer is a nine level episode replacement partial conversion for Heretic and ZDoom/GZDoom created by Not Jabba. Replacing the first episode of Heretic, The Wayfarer includes a new weapon, several new items, monsters and graphics, but is also intended as a rebalance mod for Heretic, greatly changing the way many of the vanilla actors function and providing a novel take on the game, one that would provide influential for future Heretic mods. The gameplay changes were later included as part of the standalone gameplay mod The Wayfarer's Tome, to be used on any vanilla Heretic levelset.

The Wayfarer was one of the recipients at the 2019 Cacowards.

New monsters
Serpent keepers are human warriors who breed chaos serpents; they are magically immune to their charges' fireballs. They attack using their large maces, and can put on bursts of speed to chase down their targets. Their leader, Rocastus, has the same abilities but has more health and fights using his gauntleted fists.

Lesser chaos serpents resemble the green serpent used by D'Sparil; as well as a melee bite, they can breathe a spread of three fireballs or three quick bursts of two fireballs at a time. Greater chaos serpents resemble the brown serpents seen in Hexen, but have more health and can breathe two bursts of three fireballs each, or three bursts of two fireballs.

The High Disciple of D'Sparil is the final boss. Initially he is protected by a blue shield that reflects projectiles; he attacks with homing red projectiles as well as a spread of white missiles, and can charge towards his target. In his second form he will be vulnerable to damage, but is more aggressive and swaps his forward charge for a strafe, similar to the dodge used by Hexen's dark bishop.

Numerous changes are also made to the vanilla monsters:
 * Gargoyles and fire gargoyles no longer infight with each other. The regular gargoyle uses its charge attack slightly more often, while the fire gargoyle's projectiles inflict slightly more damage.
 * Golems, nitrogolems and their ghost variants no longer infight with each other. Their movement speed is slightly reduced.
 * Normal nitrogolems have slightly less health.
 * Normal undead warriors have slightly less health, but inflict slightly more damage with their green axes.
 * Disciples of D'Sparil can potentially drop the new Sigil of Power, rather than the Tome of Power.
 * Sabreclaws have slightly higher mass and are less likely to drop Hellstaff runes; when they do, the pickup provides 10 ammo instead of 20.
 * Weredragons have 300 health, up from 220, and have slightly higher mass. Their fireballs travel faster and inflict slightly more damage, while their melee attacks are significantly more powerful and have a longer range. They will drop five Ethereal Crossbow bolts on death instead of ten.
 * Ophidians have slightly less health and slightly more mass. Both of their projectile attacks are slightly faster and inflict more damage. They will drop one Phoenix Rod ammo on death instead of five.
 * Iron liches have significantly higher mass, and other monsters will no longer infight with them. Ghost monsters and players using the Shadowsphere will now be completely immune to their ice shards, rather than just the initial ball.
 * Maulotaurs have less health, but their spreading fireballs inflict slightly more damage and their melee attacks deal splash damage within a small radius. On death, maulotaurs are much less likely to drop a Mystic Urn, and their Flame Orb drops (which gave 10 ammo) have been changed to an Inferno Orb.

New weapon
The Lightbringer replaces the Firemace in slot 7. Using sun runes as ammo, it fires bolts of light that pierce through multiple enemies and ricochet off of walls, making it very effective against large groups of foes or for dealing repeated damage to more powerful enemies in enclosed spaces. When tomed, the weapon fires a burst of tracers (similar to Doom's BFG9000) that can hit many monsters at once; each burst requires 15 ammo.

Numerous changes are also made to the vanilla weapons:
 * The Gauntlets of the Necromancer are slightly more powerful and more likely to stun-lock monsters.
 * The Staff has a new attack animation and a longer range. The tomed Staff deals significantly more damage and can hurt ghost monsters.
 * The normal Elven Wand is slightly more powerful. Both the standard and tomed weapons have a higher rate of fire.
 * The normal Ethereal Crossbow fires four side bolts instead of two, which are more powerful, but it is slower to refire. The tomed crossbow still fires five powered bolts, but is more powerful.
 * The normal Hellstaff's projectiles are heat-seeking and slightly more powerful. The rain from the tomed Hellstaff lasts longer and does not push enemies back, making it much more effective; to compensate, each shot uses 10 ammo instead of five.
 * The tomed Phoenix Rod is more powerful, has a slightly longer range and causes less knockback on hitting enemies; additionally, its fire is unaffected by the player's momentum. Firing the weapon continuously will consume ammo steadily, rather than having to be refired every so often.

New items
The Sigil of Power behaves just like the Tome of Power, but is used immediately on pickup and lasts for 15 seconds instead of 40. It looks like a silver skull with gray wings.

The Might of Tysonius is functionally similar to Doom's berserk pack; it instantly grants 25 health and increases the damage of the Staff to match its tomed version for the duration of the level. It looks like a hammer with gold wings.

Some changes are also made to the vanilla items:
 * Energy Orbs give 30 ammo for the Dragon Claw, up from 25.
 * Chaos Devices are no longer carried between levels.
 * Up to 25 Timebombs of the Ancients can be carried at a time, up from 16. They also no longer count towards item percentage.

Levels

 * (exit to secret map)
 * (secret map)
 * (exit to secret map)
 * (secret map)
 * (exit to secret map)
 * (secret map)
 * (secret map)
 * (secret map)
 * (secret map)

Soundtrack

 * E1M1: "Coldwater" by Varis Alpha
 * E1M2: "Low Fire" by Gus Knezevich (Alfonzo)
 * E1M3: Lands_76.mid from 
 * E1M4: "Ominous Wind" by Varis Alpha
 * E1M5: "The Hordes of Caoimhin" by Varis Alpha
 * E1M6: "Unsanctified Grounds" by Varis Alpha
 * E1M7: "Curse of the Avenger" by Varis Alpha
 * E1M8: "Gateway" by Varis Alpha
 * E1M9: "The Zenith" by Lola Harvey (BlueWorrior) (from Freedoom: Phase 1)
 * Title screen: "The Wayfarer" by Varis Alpha
 * Intermission screen: "Herian Winter" by Varis Alpha
 * Text screen: "What Lies Beyond" by Varis Alpha

Current records
The DSDA episode records for The Wayfarer are:

The data was last verified in its entirety on July 29, 2022.